Jeff Wilks and backer Wicks Group exit all station ownership via two deals in Reno. Wilks has had quite a rocket ride, most recently scoring on a $54 million sale in Denver to San Kroenke. (Wilks paid CBS Radio $19.5 million for three Denver FMs.) Jeff's last market with the Wicks Group was Reno, where earlier this year he sold off two broadcast towers to Comcast Venture-backed CTI Towers. And in the Summer of 2014, Wilks sold Reno's then-classic rock "92.9 the Bandit" KYSA and a Carson City translator to "K-Love" parent Educational Media Foundation for $1.5 million. Wilks rescued the "Bandit" format by transferring it to what's now KURK, and let's follow the Bandit to the end of the trial with Wilks -

Reno-market owner Jerry Evans buys two FMs plus a translator from Wilks for $750,000. They're both licensed to Spark, and one is the classic rock "Bandit" you've already met, now Class A KURK at 100.9. The other FM is country "92.1 the Wolf" KWFP, a Class C3. In the Fall Nielsens, it was tied with Americom's country KOLC with a 2.9 share (age 12+ AQH total-week shares). (Seventeenth-ranked "Bandit" snatched a 1.4 share). Also in the package is a translator down in Carson City, K286AG at 105.1. The buyer of all three signals is Jerry Evans, whose current Reno holdings are "99.1 FM Talk" KKFT Gardnerville-Minden and "My Country" KCMY Carson City at 1300, plus a translator in Carson City and a future one in Verdi. Evans is paying $750,000 for the Bandit, the Wolf and the new Carson City translator, and agree to put an immediate $350,000 in escrow, before closing. The buyer's paying a pre-closing monthly LMA fee of $5,000 plus "all direct and reasonable out-of-pocket costs and expenses". Broker - Mike Bergner for seller Wilks.

Lotus is taking adult alternative "100.1 the X" KTHX, the third Wilks station in Reno. The deal's not filed yet, but the purchase agreement for "Bandit" KURK and "Wolf" KWFP refers to a soon-to-come deal for KTHX, with Lotus the buyer. The Kalmenson family's Lotus has room for just one more FM in Reno, and it will be KTHX, a Class C1 licensed to Daytona, Nevada. Triple A KTHX should be a natural complement to Lotus-owned rock KDOT/104.5 and classic rock KOZZ/105.7. Beyond those two stations, Lots goes deep into sports around Reno, with four all-sports station (like "ESPN 94.5" KUUB Sun Valley).